Current computer security systems determine a user's access to network resources based on permissions granted according to the user's credentials. This user-centric model provides a great deal of flexibility for the increasingly mobile/remote user population. For example, remote access servers and Internet connectivity allow a user to transparently access corporate resources from virtually anywhere.
While this flexibility provides advantages to both the user and the owner of the network, (e.g., a corporate enterprise), such increased availability and easy connectivity inherently elevates the risk of unauthorized access. Although encrypted network communication prevents wire eavesdropping, allowing remote access to sensitive corporate resources still has an intrinsic risk. Indeed, regardless of how protected the resources (such as files) are when they are transmitted, there is still likely to be a subset of sensitive corporate resources that the company does not want authorized users to be accessing from just anywhere.
For example, a laptop-computer user may inadvertently display highly confidential corporate strategy to unintended viewers, such as when working on an airplane. New, wider-angle laptop screens make it even more difficult to prevent other passengers from peering at the monitor contents. Similarly, with the escalating population of mobile users, the theft or loss of a notebook computer increasingly threatens the security of sensitive corporate data. A user's account and password also may be stolen, particularly if maintained on a stolen laptop. As long as the user has the proper credentials, existing security mechanisms make it simple to remotely download files and perform other remote actions, thus contributing to these and other security risks.
In short, remote access servers (RAS) and Internet connectivity enable users to access corporate resources from virtually any location. However, certain locations (particularly remote locations) are less secure than others. For example, because of portability and increased access, files downloaded to a laptop computer are easier to steal than files on a desktop machine in a corporate office. Similarly, unauthorized persons may obtain user accounts and passwords, whereby it is most likely that they will attempt to access corporate resources from a remote location.